What do you think of random encounters in video games?

[IceBrand]

What are your thoughts on this feature?

Edited June 11, 2013 by Majestic Paladin

[Komeiji Koishi]

Random Encounters are cool, it's one of the main things in Pokemon, and I have to say that I enjoy FFIV's random encounters to FFXIII's non-random encounters. I dunno, it just adds a sense of surprise to RPGs, like you never know what's going to happen.

[Acacia Sgt]

Though I prefer enemies visibly roaming the environment, I'm fine with Random Encounters. The only time I could find it annoying would be if the encounter rate is so high, but other than that, I like it.

[Big Daddv]

It's always annoyed me. It's the very reason I have troubles beating any Final Fantasy game. It tries my patience. I'll beat one of them eventually......

It's also why I like Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross a lot better than Final Fantasy. Your enemies are there. They're not always avoidable, but you almost always see them coming.

[Steampunk]

I think Pokemon has the right idea with tall grass. There are certain zones where you'll have random encounters if you want them. FFIII on the SNES drove me crazy with them. Sometimes you just want to get from Point A to Point B. When the game stops you every five steps, it works your nerves after a while. Fallout 3/NV had an interesting twist on random encounters where you'd know about where enemies would spawn and have an idea where you could expect to find them, but they'd wander around and wouldn't necessarily be in the same place all the time. I think "real time" random encounters in games (where it doesn't stop everything you're doing and drag you into a battle screen) would work fine.

[Siruppercut]

I don't mind random encounters. I prefer random encounters over being able to see the enemies on the map. Both systems has its pros and cons. One game that has a excellent system with random encounters is Cthulhu Saves the World. I liked how each area has a set number of random encounters. Once you reach the max amount of encounters you can roam around the area without fighting anything until you leave that area. Also if you wanted to grind more exp, you could enable more random encounters manually in game.

[Knight]

I think it works well in RPG's like Pokemon, where you know where random encounters will occur, in grass, or dungeons, and it works fine.

[Samias]

I've gotten tired of random encounters. I'm okay with Pokemon's tall grass but caves get pretty annoying. And man oh man do older RPGs ever get tedious. It's hard to balance the encounter rate so that it doesn't get repetitive. I prefer visibly roaming enemies, even if the roaming enemy isn't a perfect representation of what I'm going to fight.

[Happy_Dingo]

I like seeing my enemy beforehand. It's a minor detail that goes miles towards lessening monotony and frustration.

[Knight]

Truth be told, Pokemon is the only case in which I like random encounters.

[Rehab]

I'll echo Sheik in that I'm relatively fine with real-time random encounters, and a lot of other people in that for the most part, I prefer being able to choose when and where to engage an enemy, especially when engaging means I'm taken from one instance to another and shit has to load.

However, there is at least like one instance where I am (was) okay with them: skies of arcadia (no wait, I'm not done yet!!), while sailing in the overworld. In the context of the game, it's like you're sailing underwater (not the best way to put it but work with me here), except instead of water it's air, and instead of sea creatures the ecosystem you're sailing through is full of fucking monsters everywhere. The essential basis of random encounters here is that the decks of your ship periodically get attacked/latched onto by monsters, and it's either impossible or inadvisable to continue without going up and getting rid of them, so it actually makes sense for the game to have you stop moving and fight them. So if the random encounters actually are you stopping your travels and fighting shit so you can move on, I can accept them. If you're just walking around and A CHIMERA MATERIALIZED, LOOKS LIKE IT WANTS TO BEAT YOUR ASS yeah okay whatever game

[Tobiki]

It's a huge staple in the genre, so I love it.

[shadykid]

Truth be told, Pokemon is the only case in which I like random encounters.

pretty much just this, it's annoying elsewhere (like in Final Fantasy)

[CT075]

i'll jump on the "it's ok as long as it's pokemon" bandwagon

[Refa]

Being a pro, I can deal with it!

[HolyAarom]

I think it's a decent mechanic but it's up to the game to handle it correctly. Pokemon's been mentioned, so I guess I'll talk about few other games.

One game I know that handles it decently is Tales of Legendia. Most of the dungeons in that game are just stretched out long hallways that serve no purpose but to draw out the amount of encounters you get. On the other hand, I do enjoy the battle system in that game so I don't mind fighting more than I'd hope for (there's also auto mode and using items that decrease encounter rates.)

The Battle Network series also does it fairly well with having a fun battle system and ways to decrease encounter rates. I do recall that sometimes you would run into enemies that were tougher than the usual ones you would encounter in the area, and I would say that's part of the excitement that comes from true random encounters. You really don't know if you can just kill everything or be cautious in your travels.

I'm not really an FF player, so I don't really know if the random encounters are really that bad. I suppose when it's turn based, it probably would start to drag on. I would personally just mash whatever is confirm if the enemies are weak enough so I can just get on and keep going.

Someone mentioned real-time random encounters and I just had to mention, would White Knight Chronicles or even Rogue Galaxy be a good example of that kind of mechanic?

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Its ok if theres a method to avoid it for the sake of convenience

Such as pokemon

[Lord Raven]

"as long as it's Pokemon"

The only other random encounters I enjoy are Shadow Hearts, because they're not particularly common. Somehow the random encounters actually occur often enough that you're either way ahead of the level curve or you're on par with it, and they don't seem to happen particularly often either. But maybe the fact that the later two games have a lot of quick, fluid animations on top of that interactive element is shifting my views a little bit